box huckleberry

13,000 years old

A few miles west of Pennsylvania’s state capital of Harrisburg is the town of New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania. A short drive will take you to Hoverter & Sholl Box Huckleberry Natural Area. This state’s smallest preserved natural area may look like nothing at all - at least, nothing different from countless nature trails you may have seen all your life. But, scattered among the forest floor are the remnants of a box huckleberry bush that can date back to 13,000 years old. That’s right. 13 grand. That’s more than ten thousand years before the birth of Jesus - those huckleberries were right there. They look sort of like blueberries, a distant cousin. If you want to incorporate this visit to a thirteen thousand year-old living being, the Appalachian Trail runs through nearby Duncannon, crossing the Susquehanna River in a gorgeous valley just north of the state capital, where plenty of cozy eateries and accommodations can be found, along with Amtrak connections to Pittsburgh and Philly. If you are on a larger road trip through the state, consider following the river north toward the town of Liverpool, where there is a ferry soon-to-be featured on our “Best Ferries” list.

methuselah

4,852 years old

The nearly five thousand year-old tree is located in California’s Inyo County. A visit to this sacred living tree is easily incorporated into a visit to nearby Death Valley National Park, and can be connected to other nearby National Parks, including Sequoia, Joshua Tree, Yosemite and the lesser known Kings Canyon. If you need to base your road trip out of an airport and you are renting a vehicle, Las Vegas is actually the best airport to fly in and out of - it will be much easier than going through Los Angeles. If you are driving from a regional area, including L.A., or plan to incorporate a visit to L.A. in this trip, consider searching for air bnb’s in the town of Panamint Springs, or in the town of Olancha, which is on the road between L.A. and Inyo National Forest. Also, it’s worth a stop at the Maturango Museum in Ridgecrest (also on the route to L.A.) to learn a bit about the Mojave Desert and local Petroglyphs. The Jurupa Oak in Riverside is also a super-old ancient clonal stand of oak trees, also on the list of oldest living things.

old tjikko

9,550 years old

A visit to this nearly ten thousand year-old tree takes you to the Swedish-Norwegian borderlands, on the Swedish side, in a park called Fulufjallet National Park. Although it is in Sweden and obviously accessible via Stockholm, it is a closer trip to come from Oslo, Norway, which is a better option for anyone traveling from the west, especially if incorporated into a larger trip. It is a perfect place to incorporate in an Oslo-Stockholm road trip. Breathtaking lodging options near the parklands include Fulufjällsgården, an outdoors-oriented lodge perfect for hikers and road-trippers. A nearby village called Sarna has a small museum, but the nearest place where you will find a collection of lodging, eating and shopping is the city of Hamar on the Norwegian side and Mora on the Swedish side. Hamar, the larger of the two, is located on the northern shores of Norway’s largest lake, Mjøsa. Mora, the smaller city, is on the northern shores of Lake Siljan and is home to the Zorn Museum, celebrating painter Anders Zorn. In Mora you can celebrate the midsummer, or summer solstice to its fullest extent while listening to folk music, drinking, eating and staring out at the lakes and mountains. All of the yesses.